Of course I read his piece very carefully. He starts out by painting climate change people as people who use big words. He also twists a few things on science as science is to come up with things that are open ended so how could there be proof of climate change if the science is wrong. He skillfully asks questions and then provides the answers he wants. Of course, this guy has lots of followers here.
One argument that plays well is that we produce a very small fraction of world greenhouse gases. If large green house gas producers don't make an effort to control greenhouse gases , why should we?
Alberta Canada is an oil producing region. The first big gusher came in in 1948. Development continued rapidly after 1948. Many people made good money working in oilfields and others developed service businesses to look after the oil fields. Many of our people have made their living from oil so find it difficult to go along with climate change. Many of our people are very much to the right. They brag about the value of private enterprise and they do not like any regulation that regulates what they do. They are an easy mark for someone trying to argue against climate change.
Alberta has a large area of tar sands which are being developed. Billions have been spent on tar sands plants.
We recently changed governments here and ended up with a left wing government. The right wingers have been foaming at the mouth ever since. They use Trump's call to lock her up as we have a very sharp female premier.
Now the new government has brought in a carbon tax. Debate has been vigorous and ridiculous as facts seem to have become very scarce.
Now if the people who are against carbon tax could stop and take a breath they might see that the purpose of a carbon tax is to cut use. Now if they controlled their use of carbon fuels maybe there wouldn't have to be a carbon tax. Maybe if they quit driving giant pick up trucks there would be less use of carbon fuels. 99% of the people do not need the big trucks so it would be easy to cut down.
I'm afraid people want their toys no matter how much destruction they may cause.
A carbon tax is only one of the ways to deal with climate change. All of us can contribute to lessening greenhouse gases by just cutting our use.
I'm disappointed. I had high hopes of moving to Canada to escape the coming days of Trump but it sounds like Canadians are as bad as Americans about speaking before they get their information straight.I'm so tired of those people.
ReplyDeleteLinda, we've got lots of room for people like you. We have three main political parties so it's easy to throw the bums out. It keeps them a little bit honest.We do have some loonies but they're not in power right now.
DeleteOne of the definitions of a conservative is that they like to hold on to what they have, keep things the way they are, or used to be, and limit any government interference in their own decision making. They abhor change, but change happens. When it comes to climate change, we are not changing our ways fast enough. We will fiddle while Rome burns.
ReplyDeleteyou're right that we are not changing fast enough. there's just too much evidence around us.
DeleteJust a tiny effort adds up huge when all the world tries
ReplyDeleteHow true!
DeleteWell said, Red. I didn't realize that Canadians have the same right/left dichotomy that we have down here, but it makes sense once I think about it. It's hard to imagine that there are still so many people who don't believe their own eyes. :-(
ReplyDeleteYou guys don't have a right left . You have a right and a far out right! Yes, we have right and left but we're much more to center left.
DeleteYou are spot on about the giant trucks!!!! Well done.
ReplyDeleteI know. You like those big trucks. If you lived in alberta you could rant about trucks every hour.
DeleteUSA and Canada have done well to what they used to spread in the air. Hopefully one day they'll be zero carbon out there
ReplyDeleteOh I don't think we've done well. we have all kinds of disasters we've left. We have a problem with oil well sites not being cleaned up when the wells are abandoned.
DeleteIt's not quite as bad here as it is in the States about that left-right tension, but there are times when you see comments from people- such as that columnist- that just make you shake your head.
ReplyDeleteWe can have disagreements and differing opinions but at least we could be logical and honest.
DeleteI find the debate over climate change to be ridiculous. Yes, climate runs in cycles and the Earth has heated up and cooled down before, but now we can measure the crap we're putting into our atmosphere and scientists can measure the effect this is having on our climate. Jobs won't mean much if the time comes when we can't breath, and don't forget that 75 percent of the human population lives within a few miles of the ocean, and oceans are rising at an alarming rate.
ReplyDeleteSo the ice in the north melts and sea levels rise. It's simple .
DeleteI used to believe everything I read that was published in a newspaper. Because somebody is checking stuff, right? Wrong. Now I know better. And it infuriates me when columnists - and even editorials by news staff - are full of unproven "facts" and clearly political and/or personal opinions. Newspapers are supposed to be better than that.
ReplyDeleteWe're all supposed to be better than that starting at our politicians.
DeleteThere is a lot of "nuttiness" surrounding this issue, for sure. From what I understand a lot of it comes from air travel, which I feel guilty about because I do quite a bit of it. But I don't have a car, so there's that. It's certainly incumbent on all of us to lessen our impact as much as possible.
ReplyDeleteI smiled at your columnist's dismissal of those who worry about climate change as "people who use big words." We're at such a weird time in our history. Americans and Canadians used to aspire to learn more and become better educated. When did using big words become an offense worthy of ridicule?
Good question. When politicians learned to use dividing and conquering, the wheels fell off the bus.
DeleteIt's alarming how many people still deny climate change, even though scientific evidence clearly shows it's happening.
ReplyDeleteI find it hard to understand when people deny climate change. Yes, we've had ice ages and then the ice melted and it got warm.Those things were natural.These things can be measured as man made.
DeleteTalking sense! What's wrong with you Red? Don't you realise that talking sense is dangerous these days?
ReplyDeleteYes, I could get myself into big trouble!!!
DeleteI am in eastern Canada....we have clean air here.......oilfields are way out west and they can stay there
ReplyDeleteYou are fortunate to have clean air. what we're talking about is carbon emissions that happen all over the place.
DeleteYes, Red, I understand that, however, people out this way tend to be worried more and trying harder to make a difference. Unfortunately, it is still not enough. The carbon emissions are what they are. As long as certain groups of people RUN the world, we are a lost cause and carbon emissions continue.....drastic emissions require drastic measures, there are not enough believers standing at the battle field unfortunately.
Delete"I'm afraid people want their toys no matter how much destruction they may cause." There's the answer. People want to do whatever they want. No one wants to make any sacrifices for the common good. Some taxes and laws are implemented to force people to behave.
ReplyDeleteI think carbon tax will have to get pretty high before it catches people's attention.
DeleteHi Red, Your picture in the side bar called At Ease is just great. I would like to be on the other side of that kitchen (?) table and enjoying a cup of coffee with you. Would like to talk about these things like left and right. I would be so much in agreement with you about the big pickup trucks. The older I get, the harder it is for me to understand governments, and that includes both sides, left and right. Another fine post here, Red. Hope you're having a good week.
ReplyDelete